The popularity of the game of golf as a participation sport has proliferated over the past several years. Golf is played with three types of clubs which are generally referred to as woods, irons and putters. The term wood generally refers to a mallet-type headed club. With the increased use of metal alloys and other materials for use in the construction of the head, the term wood may now be somewhat misleading as they are often times now called metal woods.
There are several elements in and variables to the swinging of a golf club and hitting a golf ball in the intended direction of flight. The accuracy in the direction of the golf ball's flight plays a significant role in the players score and in his stress level while trying to relax on the golf course.
The most significant element which determines the direction of the flight of the golf ball is the alignment of the clubface with respect to the intended target or direction of flight at the time of impact. It is intended for the clubface to be perpendicular to the intended target at impact.
Naturally, a golfers alignment prior to beginning his or her swing is very important in the ultimate alignment when striking the ball, especially for the part of the game referred to as putting. A golfer's ability to align his or her clubface to the desired target is largely a function of each golfer's ability to visually determine if the clubface is aligned perpendicular to the desired target or direction.
Many golfers' eyesight inhibits their ability to accurately align the clubface so that it is perpendicular to the target prior to beginning the swing, i.e. when addressing the ball. In many golfer's view, misalignment of the clubface when addressing the ball prior to the swing is the cause of many inaccurate shots and consequently many additional strokes, especially when putting.
In an attempt to assist golfers in visually aligning their clubface properly, many manufacturers have placed accentuated and elongated lines on their putters to assist the golfer in aligning the face of the club in the intended direction. Some manufacturers place these visible direction assistance lines parallel to the putter's hitting surface, while others place the line(s) perpendicular to the putter's hitting surface, while still others place lines both parallel and perpendicular to the putter's hitting surface.
The clubface for most irons only contains grooves in the hitting surface which should appear to the golfer to be perpendicular to a line directly to the intended target.
Substantial time is spent by teaching professionals and others to clubface and body alignment prior to initiating the swing, especially for putting.
Although there are many methods to attempt to properly align the clubface perpendicular to the target, none have heretofore sufficiently allowed the golfer to be assured that the club face is accurately and reliably aligned such that it is exactly or very near perpendicular to the intended target. The result in many cases is the player with the worst vision for alignment or perpendicularity makes fewer shots in the intended direction and consequently, scores higher in a game where that is not the objective.
It is common for golfers who are addressing the ball and ready to initiate their swing to believe that the clubface is aligned to a certain target, when in reality, it is several angular degrees off from where they thought it was. Just a few angular degrees out of alignment on a one hundred and fifty yard shot, or on a twenty five foot putt, can make a substantial difference in the accuracy of the shot.
Due to their inability to visualize perpendicularity or proper clubface alignment, it is oftentimes difficult for golfers with this problem to discover it themselves and to get them into the habit of proper alignment on a consistent basis.
My invention is intended to substantially reduce or eliminate this alignment problem. It is believed that the most dramatic results players will experience will be in the alignment of their putts, although substantial gains can be made using my invention with woods and irons as well.
The golfing industry has heretofore been unable to find a sufficiently reliable solution to the alignment problem.
My invention allows the golfer to first visually align the clubface such that he or she believes the clubface is perpendicular to the intended target, without the aid of the my invention's alignment means. Thereafter, the golfer can generate a laser beam to project a visible line or to project a small dot or pattern in the direction the clubface is aligned. This will give the golfer immediate feedback on the accuracy of his or her visual alignment.
My invention further allows golfers to better develop and render as habit their own method to visually align the golf club on a consistent basis.